---

The TACH Report: CART at Road Atlanta, DaimlerChrysler, Honda Safety Recall

8 May 1998

Zillionaire Don Panoz (he invented the Nicorett no-smoke patch among other
things) says his Road Atlanta sports car track is ready for a
FedEx/CART race, as soon as the sanctioning body can find a date for a race.

Lawyers are attempting to work out an agreement for Panoz who is a
relative "new boy" to professional motorsports.  If he was one of the
"old boys," he wouldn't have to genuflect and kiss the garment hems of
CART Poobahs.  CART insider Chip Ganassi just picked up the phone,
called the magic CART number in Troy, MI, and said "give me a Labor
Day race date."  Voila, Sportsmans Park, Ganassi's new Chicago horse
track, had a date.

Big news in the car world: the Mercedes Benz and Chrysler arrangement
is the biggest automotive money/stock deal in history . . . $35
billion.  We think that Chrysler needed someone to build luxury cars
for them. The company's top of the line vehicles--the LMS and the
300--are called "near luxury" cars and sell for just under 30 grand.

Over 37,000 Hondas and 15000 Acuras have been recalled by the Feds for
a faulty transmission that may have an effect on the front wheels not
locking when the car is in park.

Lots of car stuff comin' down the second half of this month:

MOPAR NHRA nationals		Englishtown, NJ
Goodguys Dixie nationals	Conyers, GA
CART				Concord, NH
Portland Swap meet		Portland, OR
Calumet Rod & Custom show	Lake County, IN
International Trucking show     Las Vegas, NV
Vintage T-Bird meet		Atlanta, GA
Winston Cup			Charlotte, NC

Lincoln has signed on as a sponsor of the world famous Newport Beach,
CA Concours, Oct 4 at Pelican Hills Golf Club.

The stars of the Turin Auto show last week were concept cars from
Lancia (Dialogos), Pininfarina (Dardo) Fiat (Multipla), Ford (Ka
Touring), and Stola Gruppo design studio (Abarth 98) . . . a bunch of
sleek automobiles.

The new Lincoln LS2000 is that comapny's Cadillac Catera fighter. The
Jaguar version will most likely be called an "S Type."

American Suzuki is going all the way with its law suit against
Consumer Reports magazine for their rollover contentions.

45 year-old Jim Julow, new head man at Dodge, takes the reins as Ray
Fisher moves to another marketing assignment.

Chrysler Vice Chairman Bob Lutz will retire at the end of this year
and go fly his Russian jet.   Lutz just cashed in enough stock to net him $13
million.

Nissan's Indy racing effort still seems to be bogged down.  The V8
Infiniti race motor is still 10 mph off the pace at Indy 500 practice.

Bill Maloney -- The Auto Channel